Day: 184
I made it to Mendoza just before 9am this morning, and with Evon, a Dutch girl I meant on the bus we set out to find a hostel and get situated in this new province. It was no problem to find a bed, and after a quick breakfast, we wandered into town looking for whatever was going on and to get a layout of the land. Before we knew it hunger from eating shitty bus food caught up with us. We found a street side cafe and ordered some sandwiches and a beer.
I had just finished my sandwich, and was carrying on a decent conversation when a local walks by, pulls his cell phone out of his pocket and drops his keys.
“Senor!” I yelled. No response.
“Senor!” Nothing. I grabbed his keys and chased him the 10 yards to get him back his keys.
“Gracias.” He thanked me. When I turned back to my seat everyone was looking at another man now crossing the street behind where I was sitting. with my bag and chair sitting on the corner.
The other man, while I was distracted returning the keys, had grabbed my daypack (complete with passport, Ipod and the $1700 70-200mm lens I had) and tried to walk of with it (my camera was on my shoulder). While, obviously, in their criminal recon it didn’t occur to them that I had clipped my pack to the chair I was sitting in, and when he tried to walk off with it he also dragged the chair behind him. This made such an awful racket that the Evon, the waiter, and two other tables of people who had been watching me return the keys, turned and stared at him. He quickly decided his cover was blown, dropped my bag/chair combo on the corner and ran across the street. It happened so quick that it took everyone a second to realize what was going on.
When I got back to the table, I was dumbfounded by what had happened. These guys were like lightning. I have heard stories, and read about it on the Internet, never thinking it would happen to me. Also, I always feel kind of lame clipping into furniture like I am repelling. I guess after a year of being cautious I just needed a reminder not to go slack on my lame security measures, because it was all that was needed to foil these shady fuckers.
I also guess I can’t be nice anymore. No one gets their keys back now!
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Wow! All the computers in this town suck. Maybe a combination of a couple will get my page right.
Ill fix it soon.
Hopefully.
Rob
PS Enjoy the pictures for now.
Meanwhile as our hero recovers from his heroic deeds, the evildoers try to outsmart him. Not one to take these travel advisories lightly, he conquers through lame security measures. Soon he will also understand the power of SPF 50 on his forehead.
Like JoAnna said to you about the blind man n the bathoom…”Karma is a bitch!” Good Luck I am sure there is more to come!
Would loved to have seen the “oh shit” look on his face as he found himself dragging a metal chair down the street.
Um.. where was Evon when the man took your bag and chair? I’m glad you were able to recover your bag.
those f’n bastards! You should have beat his face in!